Slang words and phrases have taken over the internet to the point where everywhere you look, you see one. One of these phrases is “it is how it is”. What exactly does this phrase mean, and how do you use it?
“It is how it is” is a phrase used to express how a situation cannot change. It’s used by the internet especially. It can be used to change a conversation or acknowledge that a situation happened and there’s nothing anyone can do to change it.
The rest of this article will cover what the phrase means, and how the internet uses it.
“It Is How It Is” Meaning
To understand the phrase, we should look at the origin. Back in 1949, the phrase appeared in an article by J.E. Lawrence. It was used to describe frontier life and the difficulties that came with it. Since then, it has become a worldwide phrase everyone, especially the internet, uses.
The use of this phrase varies depending on the context you’re using it in. In one sentence, you can use it to express how a situation doesn’t bother you anymore. In another, you can use it to move on from the conversation at hand.
For example, say a terrible situation just happened, like you got fired. To cope, you can say “it is how it is”. Or, say someone asks you about how you feel about getting fired. If you’re uncomfortable with the question, you can simply say “it is how it is”.
How The Internet Uses It
The internet is responsible for plenty of the slang we use today. “It is how it is” is yet another example of that. Although the phrase didn’t originate from the internet, variations of the phrase along with new meanings have come out. One of these variations is “it is what it is”.
Meaning the same thing, “it is what it is” became a meme on the internet. TikTok in particular had users posting this phrase in a comedic manner. Typically, the user would post a video of a bad situation happening to them, and then cope with it by saying “it is what it is”.
It became a trend that took over the internet. To this day, people are still saying it to express how they have coped with a bad situation and plan to move past it. So, if you ever hear “it is what it is” from the internet, just know that it means the same thing as “it is how it is”.
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